in a small segment of the population. we know that. the federal government knows it. they pay money to kids who've been injured that way. this is something that's been known for years. and then we also know that the number of vaccines given has risen dramatically. so it does not take a rocket scientist to draw a possible correlation between the vaccines being given and the brain injury that our children are suffering, because autism is brain injury. >> narrator: combining his resources and her celebrity, handley and mccarthy have been highly effective at organizing a movement of concerned parents. >> hi, i'm jenny mccarthy. i am here today to beg you guys... >> narrator: the science that gave the movement its originalw impetus was a 1998 article by british gastroenterologist andrew wakefield in the medical journal the "lancet." he reported on 12 children with gastrointestinal problems, eight of whom developed symptoms of autism following an mmr shot. wakefield's theory was that the measles vaccine inflamed the intestines, causing harmful proteins to leak into the bloodstream, eventually dam